Minnesota car dealers brace for impact as UAW expands strike to Ford's largest plant

The United Auto Workers expanded its strike this week, this time to Ford's largest U.S. factory, which makes the F-Series Super Duty truck and the Expedition in Louisville, Ky.

Some 8,700 workers walked off the job late Wednesday, significantly ratcheting up a strike that first involved 13,000 workers at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler's owner Stellantis before expanding to include another 5,600 workers at 38 parts-distribution centers in 20 states.

Minnesota dealerships said they expect to be affected by the latest labor upheaval.

"It will definitely impact us," said Fury Ford Waconia sales rep Stacy Kohout, who said she has just two Super Duty trucks and six Expeditions on her lot.

"Once we sell those, we have no idea when we are going to see them again. Nobody knows how long this is going to last. It could take a day or six months."

The monthlong strike already has reached parts distribution locations around the Twin Cities, with repercussions for dealers and service centers. Halted production of Ford trucks could sap an already limited supply of vehicles and drive up prices.

Auto experts with the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association (MADA) said dealerships had about a 30-day supply of vehicles in stock and about a 60-day supply of parts when the strike began in mid-September.

Kohout at Fury Ford said the strike that hit the Ford Bronco SUV plant in Michigan a month ago has delayed back orders even further. Customers have been waiting up to a year for Bronco deliveries. During the past month, Fury Ford has been taking orders but holding them until the plant reopens, she said.

Ford and its dealers were temporarily spared from the parts center strikes that the UAW called against GM and Stellantis on Sept. 22. But with the strike expansion, the automaker is now front and center, and back in the target of the UAW after union members turned down the company's latest labor proposal.

Union members say they are fighting for better wages, restoration of pension benefits, the end of a two -tier wage-system and the right to unionize all future electric vehicle operations.

Ford officials in Dearborn, Mich., called the strike expansion "grossly irresponsible" and "wrongheaded."

"The UAW leadership's decision to reject this record contract offer — which the UAW has publicly described as the best offer on the table — and strike Kentucky Truck Plant, carries serious consequences for our workforce, suppliers, dealers and commercial customers," company officials said.

The Kentucky plant alone contributes $25 billion in sales to Ford's annual revenue, which was $158 billion last year.

'Minnesota is a truck state'

The Kentucky strike is a serious escalation of the walkout that began Sept. 15 with workers picketing just three plants — one at each of the Big Three automakers.

UAW members initially walked out of the GM assembly plant in Wentzville, Mo.; the Ford Ranger truck and Bronco SUV assembly plant in Wayne, Mich.; and the Stellantis assembly complex in Toledo, Ohio.

On Sept. 23, the UAW also struck 38 GM and Stellantis auto parts distribution centers, a move MADA officials said could eventually disrupt consumers who tend to need brake pads, filters, spark plugs and other auto parts more regularly than they need new cars.

But the strike didn't stick with just auto parts.

On Sept. 29, the union struck Ford's Chicago assembly plant and a GM plant in Lansing Mich. And this week, Ford's Kentucky plant took a hit, a move that could reverberate throughout the nation and, officials say, specifically Minnesota.

"Minnesota is a truck state. We sell a lot of trucks," said MADA spokesman Scott Lambert. "It's close to 90% of the new vehicles that we sell."

The state's motor vehicle sales tax is projected to bring in more than $1 billion in sales tax revenue from new and used auto sales annually over the next several years.

Strike strategy

With the UAW's latest move, Lambert said, "you have auto workers clearly trying to put more pressure on those bigger vehicles, which are very profitable for the manufacturers. But at the same time, they're gonna feel more pain too. Their strike fund is not unlimited."

In September, the UAW strike fund held about $825 million.

Striking workers now get $500 a week, so with the strike expansions, the union will be paying 27,300 strikers about $13.6 million per week.

"So it's an interesting gamble on the part of the auto workers," Lambert said. "Frankly, both sides have a good argument to make. Both sides feel like they're fighting for their survival. But that just tells you it's going to be a tough, tough strike. Everyone's kind of willing to die on a hill for their point of view."

Todd Olson, CEO of Twin City Die Castings in Minneapolis, generates about 20% of his revenue selling parts to the Big Three automakers.

"We've managed to dodge most of the bullets so far," he said. "The plants on strike luckily are not big users of our parts. That can change quickly though."

Olson said the union's staggered strike approach surprised him. He said it was "fairly effective in limiting the impact to the UAW strike fund, while still getting the Big Three's attention."

Olson said the union apparently is "strategically alternating" its weekly pressure on Ford, Stellantis and GM.

"The one or two companies that have moved the least [on labor talks] in the previous week feel the wrath," he said. "The ones that had the most movement? They get a pass for the week, but a strong warning. It's a traditional carrot-and-stick approach."